Mathematics, features and articles | Educational Science

Feb 14, 2021

New AI 'Ramanujan Machine' uncovers hidden patterns in numbers

A new artificially intelligent mathematician known as the Ramanujan Machine can potentially reveal hidden relationships between numbers. The machine consists of algorithms that seek out conjectures, or mathematical conclusions that are likely true but have not been proved. Conjectures are the starting points of mathematical theorems, which are conclusions that...

Jun 11, 2021

The 'friendship paradox' doesn't always explain real friendships, mathematicians say

Your friends are on average more popular than you are, according to a phenomenon known as the friendship paradox. Now, a group of mathematicians has come up with a new theory that takes the friendship paradox beyond averages, and they found that their equations describe real-world popularity differences among friends....

Jul 17, 2021

Math genius Emmy Noether endured sexism and Nazism. 100 years later, her ideas still ring true.

When Albert Einstein wrote an obituary for Emmy Noether in 1935, he described her as a creative mathematical genius who — despite unselfish, significant work over a period of many years — did not get the recognition she deserved. Noether made groundbreaking contributions to mathematics at a time when women...

Aug 17, 2021

Pi calculated to a record-breaking 62.8 trillion digits

Researchers in Switzerland are set to break the record for the most precise value of the mathematical constant pi, after using a supercomputer to calculate the famous number to its first 62.8 trillion decimal places. Pi is the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. The name pi comes...

Nov 11, 2021

What is mathematics?

Mathematics is the science that deals with the logic of shape, quantity and arrangement. Math is all around us, in everything we do. It is the building block for everything in our daily lives, including mobile devices, computers, software, architecture (ancient and modern), art, money, engineering and even sports. Since...

Feb 3, 2022

Mathematician cracks 150-year-old chess problem

A chess problem that has stumped mathematicians for more than 150 years has finally been cracked. The n-queens problem began as a much simpler puzzle, and was first posed in an 1848 issue of the German chess newspaper Schachzeitung by the chess composer Max Bezzel. It asked how many ways...

Mar 8, 2022

What is pi?

Pi is a number that relates a circle's circumference to its diameter. Pi is an irrational number, which means that it is a real number that cannot be expressed by a simple fraction. That's because pi is what mathematicians call an infinite decimal — after the decimal point, the digits...

Mar 23, 2022

Pythagoras: Life, work and achievements

Born in Samos in around 570 B.C, Pythagoras is commonly said to be the first pure mathematician who proposed that everything is a number. Although he is most famous for his mathematical theorem, Pythagoras also made extraordinary developments in astronomy and geometry. He also developed a theory of music while...

Mar 24, 2022

Dennis Sullivan, mathematician who united chaos theory and geometric spaces, wins prestigious Abel Prize

American mathematician Dennis Sullivan has been awarded the 2022 Abel Prize, one of the most prestigious awards in math, for his contributions to the fields of topology and dynamical systems. According to a statement from The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters (DNVA), which distributes the award each year along...

Jul 28, 2022

The World's Most Beautiful Equations

Introduction Equations aren't just useful' they're often beautiful. (Image credit: Shutterstock/Fedorov Oleksiy)Mathematical equations aren't just useful — many are quite beautiful. And many scientists admit they are often fond of particular formulas not just for their function, but for their form, and the simple, poetic truths they contain. While certain...

Jul 28, 2022

9 equations that changed the world

Mathematical equations offer unique windows into the world. They make sense of reality and help us see things that haven't been previously noticed. So it’s no surprise that new developments in math have often gone hand in hand with advancements in our understanding of the universe. Here, we take a...

Sep 22, 2022

Babylonians used Pythagorean theorem 1,000 years before it was 'invented' in ancient Greece

A 3,700-year-old clay tablet has revealed that the ancient Babylonians understood the Pythagorean theorem more than 1,000 years before the birth of the Greek philosopher Pythagoras, who is widely associated with the idea. The tablet, known as Si.427, was used by ancient land surveyors to draw accurate boundaries and is...

Mar 13, 2023

12 numbers that are cooler than pi

Here at Live Science, we love numbers. And on Pi Day — March 14, or 3/14 — we love to celebrate the world's most famous irrational number, pi, whose first 10 digits are 3.141592653. As the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter, pi is not just irrational, meaning...

Mar 28, 2023

Mathematicians make rare breakthrough on notoriously tricky 'Ramsey number' problem

Mathematicians have made a breakthrough in one of the thorniest math problems out there — only the third major step forward in 75 years. The problem involves Ramsey numbers, a deceptively simple concept that is quite slippery, mathematically. A Ramsey number is the minimum size of a group needed to...

Mar 31, 2023

High school students may have just discovered an 'impossible' proof to the 2,000-year-old Pythagorean theorem

Two high school students say they’ve proved the Pythagorean theorem using trigonometry — a feat mathematicians thought was impossible. While the proof still needs to be scrutinized by mathematicians, it would constitute an impressive finding if true. Calcea Johnson and Ne'Kiya Jackson, who are seniors at St. Mary's Academy in...